Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Convenient, cheap and tasty, the two restaurants in the city center of Macau in Senado Square make a good breakfast spot and a simple meal. You can catch a taxi there by telling them that you want to go to the central square or you can find your way there as it’s near the congregation of mass-market (Giordano, Baleno) shops and down the street from the churches and ruins.

Wong Chi KeiSenado Square

The first is a typical 'cha chan teng' or coffeeshop called "Wong Chi Kei", famous for their beef noodles. You cannot go at peak hour, well, you can but the queue snakes out the door. It's best to go later at 10am or even 10pm when all the city's best are enscounced inside the casino halls. For the second-languaged challenged, this is the signnage outside the door and the modest interior.

When we went for breakfast, we had the famous noodles, with extra beef tripe and shank meat. The noodles are actually better in HK, these were a little sticky and stringy, as opposed to being full of bounce and bite. They weren't bad though and really quick and simple meal.

We also had the century egg porridge, which was good and the cold milk tea and coffee, which were excellent (and woke us up well after a long night at the Wynn).

We also had the egg and ham sandwiches which the HK-er in our group enthused about as nostalgic and from him childhood but in all honesty it was a little dry. It it typical that you go to Macau, you splurge on accomodation (mostly to avoid the hookers on the Lisboa racetrack- don’t ask me to explain) and yet you hunt out bargains for food.

Yee Shun Milk Company MacauSenado Square

The second is le original Yee Shun Milk Company. Those who know me well will know that I am absolutely addicted to Shuang Pi Nai, or Dun Nai, "steamed milk with two films". This is basically a mixture of milk and egg white, steamed sometimes with ginger till it forms a pudding with a thin membrane layer on top. It's smooth, silky and totally yummy. Nothing makes me happier than a cold bowl of this stuff and a rich papaya milk. I just had to find the original Yee Shun, which many people told me was in Macau, which is also where this dessert originated.

Here are the pictures of the store front, with the famous shelves of steamed custard and steamed milk (for MOP14 each).

Also, more pictures of the bowls of milk pudding and the papaya milk, which comes in this kitsch engraved metal mug. The conclusion? Yee Shun in Macau is disappointing. Unlike the stores in HK, the milk pudding is watery, diluted, a poor cousin to the stiffer and smoother custard available in the Yee Shun stores along Pilkem Street, Percival Street and Lockhart Street in Causeway Bay (exit C at the Causeway Bay MTR, turn right). You can see, just in the difference in the photographs, the difference in the textures between this pudding and the one in HK. If you can get to HK, go to the bastadized city's outlets, if not, Macau Yee Shun will have to do.

Something to do in Macau

There are not many things to do in Macau, one can gamble and one can…gamble. Perhaps see some very rudimentary ruins and some terrible temples (Sorry, the alliteration was too much to pass on). Also, I tend to believe Macau doesn’t really have much that sets it apart from HK, although yes, it has a Wynn resort and a lot more casinos and probably I will eat my words in a few years when Macau has a Venetian, a Crown, an entire Las-Vegas-y strip and the best conference facilities in Asia.

However, one thing that Macau does have, is awesome pastry shops and dried meat stores. These aren’t small affairs, the shops are really quite large, especially the Pastelaria Chui Heong chain that grew up selling those ubiquitous almond cookies in Macau. These are some pictures from the dried meats seller that we visited, sited pretty near the ruins of the St. Pauls cathedral. The best things to buy are the lup cheong (dried Chinese sausages), the dark blood sausages and the dried fish.